The Raj has offered spa-goers the benefits of the world’s oldest system of natural healthcare for 20 years. The results are profound and have been well documented both in research and case studies. One very remarkable study, led by Robert Herron, Ph.D., in 2002, found a significant reduction of dangerous chemicals in the blood after only 5 days of treatment.

Dangerous chemicals in blood reduced by 50%

A study published in the Sept./Oct. 2002 issue of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine found that Panchakarma, the centuries-old Ayurveda purification program, reduced fat-soluble toxicants such as DDE (a by-product of DDT) and PCBs by about 50 percent. Such toxins tend to remain in the body for a very long time (up to 40 years). To date there is no other proven means of eliminating this class of disruptive chemicals from the physiology.

Lipophilic (fat-soluble) toxicants are generally considered to be among the most problematic of environmental contaminants. They accumulate in plants and animals and thus accumulate in higher quantity up the food chain. For this reason levels of lipophilic toxicants increase in humans with age and can be passed from mother to child. These toxicants have been associated with hormone disruption, immune system suppression, reproductive disorders, several types of cancer, including breast cancer, and other diseases, including childhood obesity. DDE (the by-product of the pesticide DDT after it enters the body) has recently been linked to Alzheimer's disease.

The results of the two-month longitudinal study showed that levels of PCBs and levels of several pesticides including DDE were reduced by 46 percent and 58 percent respectively after a 5-day treatment program. Without this intervention, the expected drop over two months would be only a fraction of one percent. No other method had been scientifically verified to reduce levels of these lipid-soluble toxicants in the human body without causing negative side effects.

Robert Herron, Ph.D., lead author of this study, noticed that PCB and DDE levels appeared to be unexpectedly high in the general population. "These toxicants were banned decades ago and were assumed to be declining to negligible levels in the U.S. population. Our findings, however, suggest that they are still entering the food chain and appear to be increasing. One possible explanation is that produce imported to the U.S. from other countries may contain banned toxicants since these hazardous chemicals are still widely used for agriculture and malaria control in other countries," said Herron.